Emergency medical response services in the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, India

BACKGROUND: Emergency medical response services (EMRS) are an integral part of today's health system. Prehospital care and transport of a patient to the health facility is the main function of EMRS. It is very difficult to evaluate the efficacy of this system. The evaluation of the efficacy of the EARS based on various parameters is the main aspect of the study. In this observational study, the epidemiology of emergency, utilization of services, quality and cost matrixes of services were analyzed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted in Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, India from January 1, to December 31, 2017. The secondary data were collected from the Emergency Response Centre. Various parameters such as epidemiology of medical emergencies, extent pattern of utilization of EMRS, quality of services, and cost parameters were recorded. RESULTS: Total 28716 medical emergencies were handled by EMRS in the year 2017. Among them acute abdominal pain was recorded as the most common emergency, followed by pregnancy-related emergencies and fever. Most of the users belonged to the rural/tribal area and females utilized the facility more than males. The average response time for providing the services in the rural and urban area was recorded as 8:42 min and 13:25 min, respectively. Various parameters of service utilization, cost-effectiveness, and quality were noted. CONCLUSIONS: The planning and support from all levels (at the national, provincial and community) are important aspect to provide quality and cost-effective services. The data of EMRS may help to develop quality benchmark for the EMRS.